The most costly travel insurance claims of 2012

DO you dread getting injured or falling ill while on holiday? Well it can, and does, happen, and getting medical care while travelling can end up being extremely costly.

Medibank has released figures for the top 10 largest travel insurance claims it paid out over 2012. The claims totalled more than $1 million and included costs for surgery, accommodation and emergency medical evacuations to Australia. There was a 50-50 split between injury and illness.

"Interestingly, the top 10 claims were spread over a broad range, evidence that you never know what sort of health emergency you could have while travelling," Medibank spokesperson Laz Cotsios said.

"And as these claims demonstrate, care and treatment can be very expensive."

At $469,000, the most costly claim was from a traveller who suffered the potentially fatal kidney disease pauci-immune glomerulonephritis while in the US.

The insurance covered the traveller's medical expenses overseas and the cost to repatriate their whole family back to Australia.

The second most-expensive incident involved a traveller who suffered a head injury, a fractured pelvis and back in an accident in Peru, which cost $152,500.

An infection of the brain that struck a tourist in the UAE cost just over $106,000. Meanwhile, a simple fractured leg in a sporting accident in Fiji cost $75,000.